Perry confirmed to The Australian that his eponymous label won’t be taking part in Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia for 2015 because he’d rather focus on its growth in the international market. “Just that ­European, Middle Eastern and Asian component has taken over what our sales are in Australia in two years,” Perry told The Australian.

The namesake brand, which has garnered attention from Giuliana Rancic, Gigi Hadid and Lucy Hale, has tallied an impressive 36 per cent growth overseas in the past two years, and Perry has just signed a US agent to make his schedule even busier. “Whilst we grow the business in the US, there’s a ceiling on what we are able to do here,” he explained. “It’s unfortunate timing, but it is what it is.”

Photo: IMAXTree

Since fashion week launched in Australia 20 years ago, Alex Perry has very rarely taken the bench. “I love doing the show (here) and it has been always for me in Australia a PR exercise, it’s not how I’ve expanded the brand,” he explained to The Australian. “I don’t think I’ve ever got any significant sales from it, but what we get in PR is invaluable.”

Perth-based label Aurelio Costarella is also opting out this year for a similar reason, but there’s still one hell of a line-up for the event’s 20th anniversary. Bec & Bridge, By Johnny, Ellery, Ginger & Smart, Romance Was Born, Toni Maticevski and We Are Handsome are all confirmed for MBFWA 2015, which takes place from April 12-16.

Chantelle Schmidt is theFashionSpot’s Australian contributor and lives in Sydney. She has worked in fashion, beauty and lifestyle PR and across a range of leading fashion and celebrity magazines. Her weaknesses include culling her ever-growing wardrobe and walking away from a thrift store empty-handed.